The Atlanta Braves have spent most of the season with a healthy lead in the National League East and a record more than 10 games above .500.

They have done so with a formula that is unsustainable over a full 162-game schedule.

The pitching has been excellent—the staff ERA is 3.25—the defense has been fine and the offense has produced home runs. All of that has masked the monumental struggles of three of the primary pieces of the lineup. After a 2-1 win over the Washington Nationals on June 1, right fielder Jason Heyward was hitting .142, center fielder B.J. Upton was batting .153 and second baseman Dan Uggla was poking along with a .180 batting average.

And, no, they weren’t using Wiffle Ball bats.

There were only two things that could have happened from that point. Either that trio of players would start hitting and help the Braves continue that level of success, or the weight of having three black holes in the lineup would become too much for the pitching staff—even one as good as Atlanta’s—to support over the long run.

Fortunately for Braves fans, there are signs of life.

Heyward, who missed almost a month earlier this season because of appendicitis, hit .395 with three homers during a recent 10-game hitting streak. He has eight multi-hit games, a .314 batting average and an .841 OPS in June.

“I’m just seeing a guy who’s gotten some at-bats,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said before Saturday’s game against the San Francisco Giants. “He only had 50 or 60 at-bats when he had the appendicitis, and I think he’s only had 70 more now that he’s back. You’re seeing a guy who’s swinging it pretty darn good.”

The production from Heyward, as Gonzalez noted, is just part of the equation.

“All of them, it’s important,” he said. “Got to keep that line moving.”

Later that afternoon, Gonzalez saw another of his struggling stars turn in his best game in a Braves uniform. From the sixth spot in the lineup, B.J. Upton hit two home runs, stole a base, scored three runs and had three RBIs in a game the Braves rallied to win in the ninth inning. That production was a reminder of what Upton is capable of providing on a regular basis—and a reminder of what he hasn’t done much this season.

“I’ve still got to work,” Upton said after the game. “Still have a long way to go. It’s a battle I’ve been fighting all year, but it’s starting to come together.”

Because of injuries and struggles, among other reasons, Gonzalez has used 56 different lineup combinations, an insanely high number for mid-June. Heading into Upton’s breakthrough performance Saturday, he and Uggla had hit back-to-back 25 times this season, in a variety of spots in the latter half of the lineup. That wasn’t a productive combo.

In those 25 games, the duo was held hitless 11 times.

They batted a combined .156 in 160 at-bats, with a .297 on-base percentage (Uggla had 21 walks), six homers, 11 RBIs and 18 runs scored. It isn’t that they were necessarily worse when together in the lineup, but having consecutive struggling hitters so close to the pitcher’s spot made the back end of the lineup unforgivably unproductive. Here’s the thing, though—the Braves still went 16-9 in those 25 games, an amazing testament to a pitching staff that held opponents to 2.96 runs per game in those contests.

The Braves would prefer not to rely on the staff that heavily. A day after his breakout performance, Upton doubled and drove in a run Sunday.

“His hard work is paying off,” Gonzalez said. “Sometimes you’ve got to be a little patient.”